How Fiction and Ferns tells buyers their piece is in the print queue
FictionAndFerns
Fiction and Ferns has made more than 900 sales on Etsy since 2025, 3D printing homeware and seasonal decorations to order in its UK workshop. Because every piece is printed after the order comes in, the shop uses Alura's follow-ups to message buyers at each step of the order, in words it wrote itself.
Printed after you order, in the colour you picked
Fiction and Ferns makes things for the kitchen, the desk and the mantelpiece, all 3D printed in the UK. There are pleated paper towel holders, fluted coaster sets, remote caddies, soap dishes, pen pots and glasses holders shaped like a chicken, a fox or a pig. Many come in a choice of 19 colours, and every piece is printed to order.
Many of the designs start with a small annoyance at home. The remote holder exists because they were tired of searching for the remote. The zigzag soap dish came from being fed up with soggy soap on a flat dish. Around the homeware sit seasonal pieces, like a Halloween fireplace with candelabras, pumpkins and an LED tealight, and a potion play set for toddlers. The shop has more than 270 reviews and a 4.97 star rating.
A made-to-order wait needs explaining
Printing to order means there's always a gap between paying and posting. A buyer who orders a remote caddy in the colour they chose is waiting while it's printed, finished and packed. Etsy shows them an estimated dispatch date, but nothing explains why there's a wait, and from the outside a few quiet days can look like nothing is happening.
Every order has several moments worth a message: when it's placed, when it ships, when it lands, and a while later. Writing each of those by hand for every order, between printing and packing, is a lot of typing, and easy to let slip on a busy week.
“Everything we sell gets printed after someone orders it. If we go quiet, it can look like we've forgotten them, when their piece is actually on the printer.”
One message for each step of the order
The shop set up Alura's follow-ups for each step of an order: Order placed, Order shipped, Order delivered and Post-purchase. Every one is a Message template written by the shop, not an AI generated one, with variables that Alura fills in for each order: the buyer's first name, the order number, the carrier, the tracking code and the tracking link.
Each moment also has two versions, one for a New customer and one for a Repeat customer. A first-time buyer gets the full explanation of how made-to-order works. Someone ordering again is welcomed back and told "You know our process by now", instead of reading the whole explanation a second time.
The templates also set expectations. The order message points buyers to the estimated dispatch date on their order page and promises another note when the parcel is on its way. The shipping message adds that delivery estimates can change at busy times, so a slow week at the post office doesn't come as a surprise. Both versions of the shipping message end the same way, with an open door: if anything is wrong, "please pop us a message straight away so we can help."
Alura fills in each message, and it goes out from the shop's own Etsy account, so the buyer gets an ordinary message from Fiction and Ferns in Etsy Messages. Sending rules hold back messages for cancelled or refunded orders and for orders with an open case, so a buyer with a problem doesn't get a cheerful note on top of it.
“We wrote every message ourselves. They go out under our name, so they should sound like us talking, not like a form letter.”
Buyers hear from the shop at every step
The first message goes out when an order is placed. It tells a new buyer that "every item in our shop is lovingly made to order, especially for you. Your unique piece is now in our production queue, and we'll be starting the 3D printing process for it very soon." A returning buyer reads that "your new piece is in the queue to be lovingly made to order."
When the parcel leaves, the shipping message says "It's been printed, finished, and carefully packaged up by us" and gives the tracking link. Once tracking shows delivered, another message checks "that it arrived with you safely" and asks the buyer to say if anything isn't quite right. Some time after that, a last note says hello and hopes they're still enjoying it.
Advice for other sellers
If you make to order, say so early and say it plainly. Tell buyers what's happening to their order and where it is, before they have to ask. A short note when you start on their piece costs you nothing and answers the question they were about to send.
Write the messages in your own voice, then write a second, shorter version for people who've bought before. They already trust you, and they don't need the whole explanation again.
“Write it the way you'd say it across a market stall. And give repeat buyers their own version. Explaining 3D printing to someone for the second time is a bit much.”
FictionAndFerns received Alura credits as a thank-you for sharing this story.